


Trapped

by lynxzpanther



Category: Fablehaven- Brandon Mull
Genre: Gen, I had to think about how Warren would survive, Yahtzee-addicted trolls aren't that easy to handle are they?, between the fourth and fifth books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-23
Updated: 2012-07-23
Packaged: 2017-11-10 14:05:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/467137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynxzpanther/pseuds/lynxzpanther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warren's trapped in limbo with no hope of rescue, and his only company is a Yahtzee-addicted troll.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first fic I ever published (so yes, cue the nostalgia). It's not perfect, or even very good, but I still love it. I wrote it before the fifth book came out, but it still fits into canon (it takes place between where the fourth left off and the fifth began). Enjoy!

Warren used a knife to etch another tally mark into the broken chair that he next to him. It had been four months and three days since the opening to the storeroom had been destroyed, trapping him—potentially forever. He dropped the knife down next to the chair and stared at his watch in boredom; it had been his only way to keep track of the days going by.

He had long since dropped his cheery attitude, because only Bubda could see him here anyway, and he didn't seem to care how Warren acted.

Bubda thought that this situation was almost perfect. The only thing Bubda had taken from his home being sealed off from the rest of the world was that no unwanted visitors could stumble in anymore. It was perfect for him now, excepting his one unwanted roommate.

Warren, however, only saw it as his own inevitable death. He looked around the small space. He had enough food supplies to last for quite a long time--a few years, maybe, if he was careful and managed to keep Bubda out of his food (something that he hadn't been very successful with so far because of some promise Seth had made).

As if sensing Warren's thoughts, Bubda appeared, biting into an apple from one of Warren's stores. Warren sighed but gave up the fight before he could even start it this time. "Play Yahtzee?" Bubda asked.

What was it Seth had said? Warren wondered. You can only play so much Yahtzee before you go insane. That was turning out to be very true. The thought of spending the rest of his life with an unsociable hermit troll playing Yahtzee was disheartening. If this was the price for seeking solitude in his free time, he would spend the rest of his life surrounded by hundreds of people. Silence had become his least favorite sound.

Bubda was still waiting expectantly for an answer. "No, Bubda," Warren told him. "Later."

Bubda shrugged and began to play a game against himself. Warren didn't see how the troll could still like that game after this long, but day in and day out he never tired of it.

The noise of the dice was already starting to annoy him. Warren moved carefully around- which he could do now; his abdomen was almost fully healed- and found some ancient-looking paper in an old box. Digging through more of the boxes and barrels, he found a pen. He leaned back on one of the boxes and carefully tore the paper into over fifty almost even pieces, sketching on each of them carefully. He had never been an artist, but it wasn't like he had a deadline now. When Warren was finally satisfied with his work he piled them into a loose stack. "Bubda," he called to the troll. Bubda looked warily up from his game to acknowledge Warren. "I have a new game to teach you."

The troll looked suspicious. "Like Yahtzee?" he asked carefully.

Warren grinned, finding a bit of his old confidence somewhere. "Even better than Yahtzee," he promised the troll.

As he shuffled his home-made, uneven deck of cards, he thought of all of his family, who were hopefully still out there somewhere: his protective older brother Dale, his cousins Kendra and Seth, their grandparents Stan and Ruth, and his friends Coulter and Tanu. He wasn't even sure if all of them were still alive, but he had faith that none of them would be easily taken down by the enemy. His confidence grew as he remembered all of their combined resilience, his own included. Despite his current run of bad luck, he had always managed to bounce back. If the situations were switched, Warren knew that he would never give up on any of his family. He had absolute trust that none of them would let him go so easily, either. They would find him; he was sure of it. He knew that he would only have to keep it together until they did.

With his old hope and confidence building inside of him once more, he began to deal out the cards.


End file.
